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The 

Story of 
Laura 
Secord, 



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A HEROINE OF" 



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Seconb (fbttton, 



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|n lUcmoiiuttu 



LAURA SECORD, 1813. 




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/."/ Lundys Lane Cemetery is the following inscription on a ?nar/>le 

ksad-stone : 

HERE RESTS 

BELOVED WIFE OF JAVIES SECORD. 

Died Oct. 17, 1868, 

aged 93 years. 



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THE . 



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^J^tf^i^/'a ^eccr/4 



1813. 



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BY s. a: curzon, 



Honoraru President of Women's Historical Society, also Honorary Member of 

the Lundy''s Lane Society. 



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PUBLISHED UNDER THE D*,KH'CTioN OJ*. ,.*.,* • •! *',*'' J^ ']' , s' ' ,* 



THE LUNDY'S LANE HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 



SECOND EDITION, 1898. 



PRICE, 



10 CErJTS. 



p 

■ 'H: 






%. t t 



OFFICERS 

— OF— 



The Lundy's Lane Historical Society. 



REV. CANON BULL, M. A., - . . . President. 

JOHN A. LAW, 1st Vice-President. 

CHARLES PATTEN, - - . . 2nd Vice-President. 

JAMES WILSON, Park Superintendent, - Secretary-Treasurer. 
REV. CANON HOUSTON, - - Corresponding Secretary. 

EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE: 
J AS. A. Lowell, George Woodruff, 

Abel Land, George Henderson, 

H G. A. Cook, Jas. C. Hull, 

J. G Cadham, J. G. Robertson. 

Donations to the Laura Secord Monument Fund will be gladly received by any 

one of the above names. 



PREFACE. 




T is a matter of congratulation tliat a second edition of "Tlie Story of 
Laura Secord" is required, and it is a labor of love on the part of the 
present writer to comply witii the request of the President of the 
Lundy's Lane Historical Society to write the preface. To intro- 
duce Mrs. Curzon to the public is unnecessary, but it is only fit and 
right that our indebtedness to her should be acknowledged. While 
tlie work of the historical societies has awakened the public to the need for his- 
torical investigation, to Mrs. Curzon is due tlie interest in the story of Laura 
Secord ; by her stirring ballad, by her drama told so thrillingly and with such 
pathos, sweetness and power, and by the present story told in noble prose, 
(although other writers have also told the tale) to Mrs. Curzon principally we 
owe tiiat Laura Secord is enshrined in Canadian hearts as a heroine. So long 
as love of country is an impulse in the human breast, so long as men and 
women shall do and dare to serve their country— so long shall the deed of this 
brave woman on that sultry day in June be told, and so long shall hearts throb 
high in Sj^pathy with the noDle deed. May the day not be distant when 
some memorial shall be erected fitly to mark the resting place of one who did 
her part so well to preserve to the British Empire what is now acknowledged 
to be the fairest jewel in her crown of colonial possessions. 

For all that Mrs. Curzon has done in investigating knotty points in 
Canadian history, for lier contributions to Canadian literature, for her work 
while President of the Women's Historical Society for the first two years of 
its existence— a well deserved honor, for all that she has done to encourage 
love of their land in Canadians, we rejoice to pay our tribute to the biographer 
"Laura Secord." J. C. 

.June 24tli, 189S. 



Jf^e 5'^0''y of L^iJra 5e^ord. 




N the 17tli October, 1808, at the pretty villaf?e of Chippawa, where 
she had lived for fifty years as wife and widow, died at the age of 
ninety-three, " one of the most patriotic and courageous women of 
any age or country." * 

Born in 1775, in Massachusetts, the very foremost of the revolt- 
ing colonies, Laura Secord, nee Ingersoll, came to the then un- 
opened west of Canada, the Infant of her father's family. 
Thomas Ingersoll was a wealthy man, of good social position in Massa- 
chusetts, and his wife was Sarah, daughter of General John Whiting, of 
Great Barrington, County Berlcs, Mass., therefore Laura Ingersoll was born to 
affluence and station. But the Ingersoll blood was loyal, and could not brook 
the forswearing of oaths of allegiance and the compulsory terms of the new 
doctrines of a new liberty. Therefore, on the invitation of his old friend, 
Governor Simcoe, who, as "Commander of the Queen's Rangers, a Royalist 
corps which had been raised in the revolted colonies, and had there done loyal 
service for the Crown," f Mr. Ingersoll sought Canada, tlie home of the 
United Empire Loyalists, and in accordance with Simcoe's views of the future 
of the country, sought to make his domicile, together with eighty or ninety 
families who came with him, in what is now Oxford County, on the banks of 
the Tliames. Certain drastic measures on the part of a subsequent Govern- 
ment seriously interfered with the welfare of the little settlement, and Mr. 
Ingersoll himself removed to the newly set off County of York, settling in the 
Township of Etobicoke, whence he again returned in the course of years to 
Oxford. 

In the meantime the infant daughter was growing up, sharing hardships 
of which the present generation know nothing, laboring with her hands in 
concert with her mother and sisters for tiie comfort of tlie father and brotliers 
whose lives had to be spent battling with nature, and in laying the foun- 
dations, deep and wide, of that civil and religious liberty we now, perhaps too 
complacently, enjoy. In those days the means of education were small. 
Toothers and fathers whose learning and polisli had been received at Harvard, 
William and Mary, and the numerous seminaries founded by tiie muniticence 

* See " The Battle of the Beeehwoods," page 1, by Major Ernest Crulkshank. 
t "IHustrated Toronto," by G. Mercer Adam (1891.) 



10 THE STOKY OF LAUIIA SECORD 



of the English Government and the liberal tastes of wealthy colonists, saw 
witli pain their own ad vanta!,'es denied to their children ; but like brave men 
and triit', tlioy made tiie best of things, and, while iinpartinji to their children 
such knowled^,'e as tiiey were able in the midst of sterner labors, never 
omitted to avail for them of every opportunity that came In their way, 
wi)ether it were the occasional visit of some university graduate on the search 
for a site of refuge, some civil ollicer whose duties placed him among them for a 
brief period, some clergyman whose widespread parish called him to periodi- 
cal visits of Christian consolation and religious otiice, or some school, to be 
reached only at a great expense of means, time and labor, that had been set on 
foot at an important cantre, such as York, Kingston or Newark. Of such in- 
termittent, tliougli, it may truly be si-id, thorough education, the heroine of 
tlie future partook a share; and as she developed into youth and beauty, she 
was fain to siiine at the official functions and entertainments of her father's 
old and faithful friend, Major-General Simcoe, who had been fittingly chosen, on 
the setting oil", in IT!H,of the western region of Canada into a separate 
nrovJDce, as Hrst Liv^utenant-Governor of Upper Canada. 

At that period one of the most important families settled in the Niagara 
district were the Secords. Tliis family was a notable one. Family documents 
shew that in the reign of Louis X. of France a certain Marquis d'Secor was a 
marshal of his majesty's household. A son of this marquis embraced the 
Protestant faith, as also did younger branches of the family. During the 
persecution of the Huguenots that preceded the massacre of St. Bartholomew, 
several of them sulVered at the stake, and the family estates situated at La 
Ilochelie were conliscated. The survivors escaped the massacre by flight to 
England, together with some other noble families, among whom were 
1^ Comte du Puys, the Radeaux, and a Holland family, the Van Cortlandts. 
Eventually five Secord brothers emigrated to America, where they settled in 
New Jersey, purchasing large tracts of land, founding Tsew Rochelle (West- 
chester County, N. Y.) in honor of their ancient home, and engaging in 
lumbering On the breaking out of the Revolutionary AVar the family 
divided; certain of them anglicized their surname by placing the d of nubility 
at the end, thus making it Secord, and others dropped the letter entirely, re- 
maining only Secor. United Empire Loyalists of the strictest type, the 
Secords had warmly espoused the King's cause, and, as a consequence, the five 
brothers, with their families had to fly jearly in the struggle, leaving their 
eHates, and reaciiing Kingston and Niagara by way of New Brunswick as best 
they could. It is said that .lames Secord, who married Laura IngersoU— thus 
giving her the name by which she is best known and will ever be commem- 
orated -when only a child three years old had accompanied his mother in her 
flight tiirough the wilderness, with four other homeless women and many 
children, to escape the fury of a band of runiaiis who called themselves tlie 
" S'»iis fif Li'>erty." After enduring frightful hardships for nearly a month, 
they finally arrived at Fort Niagara almost naked and starving* 

Such terrible experiences were by no means unconimon. I n numerous well 
authenticated cases, the men of the Loyalist families had to lly for their lives 



Sp«> tbo ■Unttlo of tlio HeccliwoodB," l»y Eriu-st C'riilkHbaiik, pnco 13, (Irst eilUlon. 



THE STOUV OK LAUltA SECOUD. 11 

leaving their wivps and cliildren, goods ard chattels, estates and money, the 
latter in ail instances a forfeit to tlie new (Jovernnient, tlic former to enter an 
unlcnown wilderness, themselves and tiieir little ones alike unprotected and 
unsupported, save by that deep faitli in God and love to King and country 
which, with their personal devotion to their husbands, made of tiiem heroines 
whose story of unparalleled devotion, hardships patiently borne, motherhood 
honorably sustained, industry and thrift perseverinj^ly followed, enterprise 
successfully prosecuted, principle unwaveringly upheld, and tenderness never 
surpassed, has yet to be written, and whose share in the maicinijtof this nation 
remains to be equally honored with that of the men who bled and fought for 
its liberties. 

Of enterprising temperaments and of large experience in the commerce of 
the time, the Secords set on foot lumber and grist mills, together with the ac- 
companying trade at Newark, Queenston and St. Davids, and were soon 
counted among the successful men of the province. But they were more, they 
were Loyalists, and as such placed themselves upon the militia roll as defenders 
of Canada. As soldiers, each generation left a noble record to their children, 
and established a claim upon the gratitude of their country. 

Major Ernest Cruikshank has done good service to Canadian history in, 
among much other similar research, collating and editing "Some Papers of an 
Early Settler," which appeared in the Wdland Tribune, in which the Secords 
are prominently mentioned. From these papers we learn that, as Rangers in 
t'le Indian Department, may be found the names of John Secord, sr., John 
Secord, jr., David, Peter, Silas, Stephen, and Solomon Secord, all mentioned 
in a letter to Sir Guy Carleton from Col. John Butler, dated from Fort Nia- 
gara, 15th June, 1777 : and also in the following year the same names are to be 
found on the muster-roll of Captain Walter Butler's company, being the 
first organized company of the celebrated partizan corps of Butler's Rangers. 

That the Secords were settlers in the true sense of the term, and not 
merely freebooting adventurers, as has been most unjustly said of the men of 
Butler's Rangers, is shown by the fact that immediately on the close of the 
Revolutionary struggle two brothers, Peter and James Secord, applied to 
Governor Ilaldimand, through Col. Butler, for the ironwork and stones neces- 
sary to the furnishing of a saw and grist mill, to be built close to the Barracks 
at Niagara. These furnishings they intended to buy in Lower Canada, but 
were informed that "the mill could not be run as a private property, * but 
that the materials would be sent up, and the Secords allowed a fair profit for 
managing it." 

" It is almost certain," .says Major Cruikshank, " that this was the first 
mill in the Province of Upper Canada, and it was beyond question the first 
built in the Niagara district." Moreover, these same brotliers appear in the 
list of farmers to whom wheat for sowing was to be supplied by the Govern- 
ment. 

Early in 1789 Major David Secord, whose military record is as remarkable 
for " hairbreadth 'scapes " as for heroic action, applied for and received a grant 

* The country tben beiug necessarUy under inilitary rule, private ventures of tUo kind were 
forbidden, lest the claims for iudeinuity on war losses should become unduly heavy, or form a 
source of temptation to recklessness. 



THE STOKY OF LAUUA SECORD. 



of "a siiifrle lot in the township of No. 1 (Niagara), in the district of Nassau," 
.uid later aiiotlier j,'rant of six hundred acres near the present villafre of St. 
David's, which received its name from him. During the war of 1812 he lost 
all he had by the pillaging of the American soldiery at Queenston, in which 
loss others of his family and many of his neighbors suffered, and by the burn- 
ing of St. D.ivid's. where mills, houses, cattle, horses, and securities for loans, 
all perished in the cuiillagration. To these were added losses at Toronto and 
other points in the course of the struggle 

The Secords were all active defenders of their country. Tie present 
writer has seen on various regimental rolls in the Archives at Ottawa the 
names of Major David Secord, Lieutenant Courtland Secord, Quarter-Master 
:>aniel Secord, Captain Elijah, Secord, Lieutenant John Secord, Sergeant 
•lames Secord. (this was undoubtedly Laura Secord's husband: under date of 
Jitth June. 1>!I-J, he is enrolled as Sergeant in Capt. Geo. Law's Company, 1st 
Lincilii Militia) To these may be added others of the name, viz: Abraham 
Secord. Edwin Secord, John Secord (age given in the company roll, 19), Joseph 
Secord, Solomon Secord, Stephen Secord— a list of loyal and patriotic men of 
one race it would be hard to match. 

Nor was the Ingersoll family, so soon to be united by a marriage with the 
Secords, less distinguished for loyalty and military ardor. In Vol. 15, M. G. 
Dmiiiiiion Ardtires may be found the entry, dated 5th September, 1805, 
••Thomas Ingersoll, Captain of the Militia of O.xford, London District." 
This militia c;insisted of one captain (Thomas Ingersoll), one ensign, three 
sergeants, three corporals, and twenty-five rank and tile, 4th June, 1805; but 
in isn4 the composition of said militia is stated as, one lieutenant, one ensign, 
three corporals, one drummer, acd forty-tiVe rank and tile. 

No doubt much fuller proof of military service than one meagre record 
could be found were the militia archives of that date to be consulted. It is, 
however, certain from other sources that Charles Ingersoll fought in 1812-15, 
and at the time of his sister's famous exploit was lying wounded at St. David's. 
Later in life he held prominent public positions of trust in the gift of the 
Government, and was also a highly respected merchant and trader. 

James Ingersoll, the younger brother, was a magistrate of high repute, 
and occupied a foremost position in the militia, in which he held the rank of 
lieutenant-colonel at the time of his death, which event took place on the !)th 
Augu.st, 188!i, when he had been Registrar of Oxford County lift.y-two years. 

It was during the years of Capt. Thomas Ingersoll's residence in Etobi- 
coke, then, as to-day. a nourishing township, that James Secord married Laura 
Ingersoll. Certain township records show that within tliat period James 
Secord and his mother Sarah applied for certain permissions to pro.secute a 
Imsiness: thus we arrive at the conclusion that Mrs. Sarah Secord was at that 
period a widow. When or where the marriage of the two young people was 
performed, or who olliciated on the occasion, we have no record ; judging from 
the c;)nditionsof the time we may fairly assume that the holy ceremony was 
performed at her father's house, and that the clergyman who united the 
future li.Toine trj her young husi)ari(l was the old friend of the two families, 
who.se parish extended from the banks of the Niagara to beyond Ancaster, the 
K'v Mr. .\(l(li-,()n. Of their i)rivatc life subseciuently we know little, beyond 



THE STORY OF LAUKA SECOUU. l.'{ 

the statement made by a daughter of the heroine, that "their married life was 
a most happy one," and that '• at the date of the Battle of Queeiiston Heinhts 
(Oct. 1.'5, 1812,) their family consisted of four daughters and one son." Two 
daughters were born to Mr. and Mrs. Secord subsequently to the war. 

Henceforward, so far as available records go, the history of both the 
Secords and Ingersolls is absorbed in the history of The War of isu. 

Not long was it to remain so ! The strife tiiat proved to the full the 
patience and heroism of Canadian men, brought to the surface the devotion 
and courage of Canadian women. Loyalty is a principle, not an epithet. 

The first year of the war was past, and the invaders had gained nothing. 
Irritated by the want of success of their arms, the American people, always 
excepting the saving few, rated the Government, and the Government replied 
by throwing into the field all the money and forces it could raise. By land and 
water the struggle was continued, and during the first portion of the cam- 
paign of 1813 the Americans scored several important successes. In .June they 
held Fort George, and It had become the headquarters of their general, who, 
irritated at finding he had picked up a sliell with nothing in it, inllicted on 
the inhabitants within his limits, which covered Queenston and reached on 
towards Burlington, many unnecessary restrictions. Every male from the age 
of the boy to that of the octogenarian was put on parole, or forbidden to leave 
his immediate home on any pretence whatever. 

General Vincent had retreated before the invading force to Burlington 
Heights, and the situation looked very unpromising, mainly owing to the 
absence of necessary reinforcements, when on the advice of Lieut. -Col. John 
Harvey, Deputy Adjutant-Genera) and principal staff-olHcer to the division, 
who had been afforded an opportunity of reconnoitring the enemy's position, 
General Vincent turned the scale of events in some measure by a successful 
night sortie upon the enemy, on the .5th of June, at Stoney Creek. Seing that 
the Loyalists, though cast down, were by no means destroyed, General Dear- 
born thought to crush them in another quarter, and in some measure retrieve 
the pms^i^e lost at Stoney Creek; and it seemed a very easy thing to do. At 
the cross-roads at Beaver Dams, by which only could Vincent receive supplies 
or reinforcements, was posted, in Decau's (or DeCew's) stone house. Lieutenant 
Fitzgibbon with a picked company of thirty men, all volunteers, several of 
them veterans of the 4!)th— Brock's old regiment, and to which Fitzgibbon be- 
longed- and others, cadets of the York and the Lincoln militia, in charge of 
certain stores. To take this post was to open up the whole peninsula, and for 
this errand Col. Boerstler, a gallant officer who had already distinguished him- 
self, was ordered to prepare himself. He was in command of the 14th United 
States Infantry, one twelve and one six-pounder field guns, with ammunition 
wagons, etc., a few cavalry, and volunteers; in all, six hundred and seventy- 
three men— a mountain to crush a mouse! But so confident were the Ameri- 
cans of their ultimate success in annexing Canada— "the people" indeed re- 
garding it for some time as a mere walkover— that they were heedless of 
proper precaution in an enemy's country, and talked— among themselves, to be 
sure; but the old proverb, "stone walls have ears," was exemplified on this 
occasion ; for hints of the intended night surprise fell from the lips of certain 
the American soldiers in the house of James Secord, where, by the right of 



14 THE STOUY OF LAUltA SEC'OKD. 

ini>,'ht. the invaders were wont to make themselves free of such comforts as it 
atTordod 

.lames Secord liad been desperately wounded at the Battle of Queenston 
lIoij,'ht>, and was at home under parole. But Lieutenant Fitzj,'ibbon nmst be 
warned ; his chance against the force that was to surprise him was nil. More- 
over the country must be saved. And who could do it? The dilemma was 
soon settled; the loyal heart of the devoted wit'i^ was touched to the core at 
the peril of the time, and Laura Secord, rising to the occasion, essayed a task 
trum which strong men miglit justly shrink. 

Whoever now should travel from Queenston to Beaver Dams would find a 
tine stone road to traverse all the way. Skii'ting the lovely and fertile vale of 
St. David's, he would be filled with admiration, not more of the natural 
scenery than of the fine agricultural district dotted with substantial homes 
that would greet his eye on every hand On the north-west, as he advanced, 
another fertile valley of great extent would come into view. At three points 
wiLliin the valley the church spires and tall chimneys of manufacturing vil- 
lages would meet his vision, while on the shores of the blue waters of Lake 
Ontaiio,— stretching away in the distance, two considerable port towns would 
be distinguishable. At the back of the valley the traveller's eye would rest 
upon high bluffs, richly wooded, curving .south-westerly, and losing themselves 
in the high plateau on whicli he was advancing. Fie would also observe with 
much admiration the stupendous piece of engineering that crosses the valley 
from the high land at his feet to the lake shore, the Locks of the Welland 
Canal; and travelling a little further, until the canal itself crossed his path, 
he would be stopped by a magnificent cantilever bridge. Turning to the left of 
the bridge, about fifty yards from the river bank, he would see a tine memorial 
stone to the memory of the killed at Beaver Dams. 

Not such was the valley nor such the road in 1812, when Laura Secord 
essayed her journey of patriotism and mercy. The whole of the valley was a 
swamp traversed by innumerable creeks, full of wild creatures, and across 
which no path led. The road was a quagmire, and, moreover, was not open to 
peaceful travel. To have pursued a direct route to Fitzgibbon at DeCew's 
would have been a trying and toilsome journey indeed, but the delicate 
woman, the mother of tive little children, was forbidden even that. The 
enemy's pickets were out on all the roads; she would have to travel through 
the swamp, climb the heights at Twelve-Mile Creek, push her way through 
t he beech woods, and reach DeCew's from the back. The distance involved 
was the smallest item of the terrible journey. The thickets of the swamp, 
with its dense underbrush, the lurking-place of tlie wolf, the wild-cat, the 
bear, and the rattlesnake; the pathless wildcrtiess with its oozy bottom, its 
solitude, its terror, these were the real hardships, even the mountain, its 
steep sides, its brawling stream, its dark mantle of virgin forest was not so 
terrible, for, once upon it. she might meet a British picket; she did not count 
on Indians, a sullicient terror in themselves if come upoii_ unawares. 

Hut duty had t^) be done, and Laura Secord aid it. Leaving lier home, her 
sick liusl)arid and young children —not witliout many a scalding tear, we maybe 
sure, though all signs of agitation had to be concealed— the brave woman set 
forward on her Journey, ail unprepared tor it indeed, for siic did not dare alter 



THE STOIIY OF LAUKA SECOUD. 



her usual early morning attire by one lota, and had to circumvent three 
American sentries before she readied St. David's, one at her own gate, where 
the pretence of a strayed cow sutliccd, the others by the true story of a sick 
brother at St. David's. 

At St. David's she entered the swamp, known to the older .settlers still as 
the Black Swamp, through which she guided herself by those signs of the 
points of the compass known to most settlers in those times. But she lost her- 
self more than once, and the moon was rising as she reached the further end. 
All tliat long, hot summer's day, from daybreak to moonlight, (On the 2;{rd of 
June, she had traversed the haunted depths of the forest, alone, hungry, faint, 
and, for the most part of tlie way, ragged and shoeless. Even to-day we can 
judge how short a time it would take to destroy every article of attire in a 
thicket full of thorns and briers, of branches and fallen trees, of water and 
bog. Wild creatures alarmed her, for the rattlesnake often strikes as he 
springs his alarum, and the wild-cat drops from the high branches without 
vearning, or pursues his prey perseveringly until he is sure of his aim. Once 
only she faltered, and it was at the dread cry of wolves; but they passed at a 
distance, and she went on trusting more than ever to the Hand that guides 
the world. 

Crossing by means of a fallen tree the Twelve-Mile Creek, then a swollen 
and considerable stream, for rains had been heavy for days previous, the 
heroine climbed slowly and painfully the steep sides of " the mountain," and 
on the ridge encountered a British sentry. O joyful sight! A friend once 
more! By him she is directed to Fitzgibbon, still however, some miles dis- 
tant. Her heart is lighter, for she is within British lines. But oh, how 
heavy are her feet! She enters at length upon a little clearing, the trees have 
been felled, and their twigs and branches strew the ground; they crack be- 
neath her tread. Suddenly she is surrounded by ambushed Indians, and the 
chief throws up his tomahawk to strike, regarding the intruder as a spy. 
Only by her courage in springing to his arm is the woman saved, and an op- 
portunity snatched to assure him of her loyalty. Moved by pity and admir- 
ation, the painted chief gives her a guide, and at length she reaches Fitz- 
gibbon delivers and verifies her message, and faints. 

It is a wonderful story. To-day, when we are lost in admiration of the 
pluck of a Stanley, a Jephson, and a Stairs, with their bands of men diving 
into the heart of Africa, we may reasonably ask ourselves which was the 
greater, theirs or Laura Secord's. The distinction is only a difference of 
climatic conditions; the end was the same, the unity and glory of the British 
Empire, and the heroism is surely equal. 

Fitzgibbon's prompt action, his success, and his promotion for it, are 
matters of history. To Mrs. Secord he was ever -grateful, and never failed to 
show it on occasion. Promotion came to him, but there was no reward for 
Laura Secord, whose self-denying devotion to her king and country led to it. 
Still, we are glad to say, not wholly unrecognized : 

" When in the summer of 1860, the Prince of Wales visited Queenston, the 
veteran soldiers of the Canada side of the Niagara frontier signed an address 
to His Royal Highness. Mrs. Secord claimed the privilege of signing it. 
' Wherefore ? ' was asked. She told her story, and it was allowed that she 



Hi THE STOUY OF LAl'UA SECOUD. 



eminently deserved a place among the signers, Fler story was repeated to tlie 
Prince of Wales. lie was greatly interested, and learning that the heroine 
liad not mucli of this world's goods sent her $501) soon after his return home in 
attestation ol his appreciation of her patriotism ^''—Iknson J. L-iRsimi, in private 
It lU r U> tin a-rit( r, ISS.'/. -^ \^' .y I 

Nor did she look for reward, save that achieved by the success of her 
errand. Hut to-day, when we are gradually awakening to a better appre- 
ciation of the heroes who gave us, by preserving to us, our liberties, we know 
that Laura Secord ought to tind a place among tiiem We have been less sus- 
ce|)tible to greatness than the ancients, in whose Pantheon the deities were 
not all gods. Nevertheless, we have not been wholly unmindful: we have 
contemplated doing tiie memory of Laura Secord some honor; we have ap- 
proached our Provincial Legislature for a grant to be expended on marking her 
last resting-place, in Drummondville Cemetery, with a memorial stone some- 
what worthy of her and of us We are ready to open a subscription list on the 
part of the men and women of Ontario, if it should prove desirable to supple- 
ment such grant as we may obtain, in order to carry out to the full our sense 
of the heroine's deserts. But let us not be laggards; time flies! 

Within the last decade a great awakening of interest in the details of our 
history has been remarked in our literature, and it is not to be wondered at 
that the romantic story of Laura Secord's heroism has touched the imagination 
of our poets. Mair, Machar and Jakeway have sung of her in harmonious 
strains, wliile many a laurel has been laid on her lowly tomb by others. Mrs. 
J. I). Edgar, whose tine volume, "Ten Years cf Peace and War," forms so 
valuable an addition to our historical records, in telling Mrs. Secord's story, 
says: "As to Laura Secord's reward, it has come to her in tJie fame that rests 
on her name whenever the story of 1S12 is told." 

" The heroine lived until the year isiis, and sleeps now in that old ceme- 
tery at Drummondville, where lie so many of our brave soldiers. There is no 
' Decoration Day ' in Canada; but if there were, surely this woman is entitled 
to the laurel wreath." 

And in writing on a matter less directly dealing with the story of woman's 
lieroisra, Mrs. Herbert says: "It gave Gen. Herbert and myself the greatest 
pleasure and interest, last week, to visit Niagara and its ever-memorable sur- 
rounding'*. especially the field of Lundy's Lane. I trust the spot where Laura 
Secord rests will be marked by a monument worthy of the brave and noble 
spirit we all nmst honor." 

As sings Charles Sangster:— 

" Thf" horo ilood can not expire, 
The dead stiU plfiy tbolr jiart. 

UalHo hitrli tlio inoninntMital sli>iii<! 
.\ natlon'H f<'alty Ih tlii-lrs. 
And W(> ar<i tin' n-Jcili-lnj; licira. 
Till' liiMuii'i-d MiinH of Hli'dH whose i/art's 
We take ii|Min im iinawan-H, 

Ab freely a« our own." 

S. A. CUUZON. 



It; 




LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 

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